Κεραμική της μέσης και ύστερης εποχής του Χαλκού από το σπήλαιο Ζα

Robin Barber Στο Κ. Σουέρεφ, Ε. Κοτζαμποπούλου, Κ. Λιάμπη, S. P. Morris & J. K. Papadopoulos 2017 (επιμ.), Σπείρα. Επιστημονική συνάντηση προς τιμήν της Αγγέλικας Ντούζουγλη και του Κωνσταντίνου Ζάχου, Αθήνα: 49-54.

The Middle and Late Cycladic pottery from the Cave of Zas on Naxos offers useful information about those periods on the island, and their presence at the site provides the first example of the use of a cave in the Cyclades in the 2nd millennium BC. The well known Cycladic classes of pottery are represented – Dark Burnished and Cycladic White in the MC period and Later Local (to use the term employed at Phylakopi for locally produced pottery with strong Minoan influence) in early LC. There are some imports from other islands, notably a fine ovoid jar (early MC) in Combination Ware, which must be from Phylakopi, as might be some of the Cycladic White. From Crete and mainland Greece, there are a small fine MM fragment, Minoan coarseware, Minyan and Polychrome Matt-painted, as well as Late Minoan and Helladic sherds.

The largest class of pottery consists of a type of Cooking Ware, which is quite well made, and the absence of the very coarse pottery known from other sites on Naxos (e.g. Mikre Vigla) is striking and hard to explain. Chronologically, these two phases (Middle and Late Cycladic) at the site seem somewhat isolated. While caution is needed until study of the Early Cycladic material is completed, at present there do not seem to be clear indications of an EC IIIB phase, or of the last stage of LH IIIC. The next finds are of the Late Geometric period.

On the basis of the limited quantities of material and the lack of finds other than pottery, it is impossible to offer a clear picture of the site in Middle and Late Cycladic. The Cooking Ware seems to indicate residential use, though the absence of very coarse pottery is strange. The imported sherds are various, if not particularly numerous, and show wide-ranging connections both chronologically and geographically. There is no certain indication of ritual activity, unless the apparent large numbers of Beaked Jugs in the Cycladic White class have some such significance, as possibly might have the absence of the Panelled Cup, a common shape at other sites.